Kilikiti

Samoan take on cricket — three-sided bat, rubber ball, huge villages-vs-villages teams and singing between overs.

👥15 per team🌤outdoor

What is Kilikiti?

Kilikiti is the Samoan (and wider Polynesian) take on cricket, adapted from the English game introduced by missionaries. It is played with a triangular three-sided wooden bat, a hard rubber ball wrapped in pandanus leaves, and often enormous village-versus-village teams. Music, chants and dancing between overs are integral to a match.

Quick facts

Category

Traditional & Cultural Sports

Type

Team sport

Players

15 per team

Where played

outdoor

Country of origin

🇼🇸 Samoa

Estimated origin

Samoa, late 1800s (colonial-era adaptation of cricket)

Olympic

No

Popularity

regional

Sources & provenance

Last verified 2026-08-24.verified